When a comedian was India's highest-paid actor, charged more for cameos than Amitabh Bachchan, Salman did for full films

In the 60s and 70s, a comedian was India's highest-paid actor, charging even more than the reigning superstars like Amitabh Bachchan and Rajesh Khanna.

The highest-paid actors in the country today are the biggest superstars - the men (almost always) with the power to draw the masses. Names like Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan, Prabhas, Rajinikanth, Vijay, and Allu Arjun charge over ₹150 crore per film routinely. These are the heroes of mass actioners, the genre that gets the most traction at the box office, justifying their large salaries. So, it would be hard to imagine a time when a comedian was the highest-paid actor in India.

The comedian who was India's highest-paid actor.

When a comedian was India's highest-paid actor

Although he started as a child artist with Kismet in the 1940s, Mehmood made his name as a comic character actor in the 1950s, appearing in supporting roles in films like CID and Pyaasa. But the actor always harboured ambitions of being a leading man. In the 1960s, Mehmood established himself as not just India's premier comedian but a bankable star in his own right. With films like Padosan, Bhoot Bungla, Johar Mehmood in Hong Kong, and Bombay to Goa, he led successful films.

In the 60s, Mehmood was minting money with his roles.

During this juncture, in the late 60s, Mehmood was the highest-paid actor in the country. According to The Print, the comedy king was charging ₹7.5 lakh for just two-week cameos in films at this time. This is when top actors like Sunil Dutt, Dharmendra, Shammi Kapoor, and Rajendra Kumar were charging under ₹5 lakh for full films. Even superstars like Rajesh Khanna and Amitabh Bachchan would not cross the ₹7.5 lakh mark till the mid-70s, and that too for a full schedule. It is estimated that even till the 80s, Mehmood charged more for his cameos than younger heroes like Salman Khan and Aamir Khan were getting for their first few films.

This HT profile of Mehmood from 1996 identifies him as the 'King of Comedy'.

Mehmood's later years

The actor appeared in films only sporadically after the 80s, doing cameos in films like Andaz Apna Apna and Guddu. In 1996, he directed Dushman Duniya Ka, his final directorial. Two years later, he had his final on-screen appearance in Ghar Bazar, a box office bomb. Mehmood died in Mumbai in 2004 at the age of 71.